ACTIVATION SEQUENCE

	Upon receiving the command to fire, the EPS submaster flow 
regulator manages the energetic plasma powering the phaser array through 
a series of physical irises and magnetic switching gates. Iris response is 0.01 
seconds and is used for gross adjustments in plasma distribution; magnetic 
gate response is 0.0003 seconds and is employed for rapid fine-tuning of 
plasma routing within small sections of an array. Normal control of all irises 
and gates is affected through the autonomic side of the phaser function 
command processor, coordinated with the Threat 
assessment/tracking/targeting system (TA/T/TS). The regulator is 
manufactured from combined-crystal sonodanite, solenogyn, and rabium 
tritonide, and lined with a 1.2 cm layer of paranygen animide to provide 
structural surface protection.

	Energy is conveyed from each flow regulator to the PDM, a 
secondary computer-controlled valving device at the head end of each 
prefire chamber. The manifold is a single crystal boronite solid, and is 
machined by phaser cutters. The prefire chamber is a sphere of LiCu 518 
reinforced with wound hafnium tritonide, which is gamma-welded. It is 
within the prefire chamber that energy from the plasma undergoes the 
handoff and initial EM spectrum shift associated with the rapid nadion effect 
(RNE). The energy is confined for between 0.05 and 1.3 nanoseconds by a 
collapsible charge barrier before passing to the LiCu 518 emitter for 
discharge. The action of raising and collapsing the charge barrier forms the 
required pulse for the RNE. The power level commanded by the system or 
voluntarily set by the responsible officer determines the relative proportion 
of protonic charge that will be created and pulse frequency in the final 
emitter stage.

BEAM EMISSION

	The trifaceted crystal that constitutes the final discharge stage is 
formed from LiCu 518 and measures 3.25 x 2.45 x 1.25 meters for a single 
segment. The crystal lattice formula used in the forced-matrix process is 
Li><Cu>>:Si::Fe>:>:O. The collimated energy beam exits one or more of the 
facets, depending on which prefire chambers are being pumped with 
plasma. The segment firing order, as controlled by the phaser function 
command processor, together with facet discharge direction, determines the 
final beam vector.

	Energy from all discharged segments passes directionally over 
neighboring segments due to force coupling, converging on the release 
point, where the beam will emerge and travel at c to the target. Narrow 
beams are created by rapid segment order firing; wider fan or cone beams 
result from slower firing rates. Wide beams are, of course, prone to marked 
power loss per unit area covered.  Æ